4 Natural and 4 Professional Ways to Get Rid of Bedbugs (Fast!)

Bed bugs – no one wants them. These pests are a person’s worst nightmare. Bed bugs will crawl between the crevices in your mattress, and they will share the bed with you when you sleep. Did we mention that they’ll also sleep in the framing of the bed and in headboards?

If the thought of sharing your bed with bugs is a bit skeevy, it’s time to learn how to get rid of bedbugs.

And it’s a lot harder than it sounds.

Bed bug removal requires persistence. The good news is that there are many methods and avenues to take to remove these bugs once and for all. Professional bed bug extermination is an option, but it’s a costly option that we’ll discuss deeper into this article.

Identifying Bed bugs Before Extermination

There’s a lot of pests you’ll find in your home, and if you try a pest control method meant for bed bugs on a flea, it may not work. You need to be able to tell the characteristics of a bed bug before you go in for the kill.

What’s neat and distributing all at the same time is that the color of bed bugs will change after they feed on blood – yup they feed on human and animal blood. After feeding, they’ll swell up a bit and their color will turn from a brown to a reddish color.

When looking at them, you’ll note that they’re about the size of an apple seed.

These pests are wingless, but they’re extremely fast when they run. Bed bugs try to remain undetected, and since they have a flattened body, they can hide in the tiniest of places.

Preparing to Get Rid of Bedbugs

You’ve found a bedbug infestation, and now you want to get rid of these pests. It’s going to take quite a bit of work on your part, but we’re going to show you how to conduct proper bedbug pest control from start to finish.

The first step, and this is very important, is to perform a thorough cleaning to remove as many bed bugs and eggs as possible.

We’re going to recommend that you follow a multi-step approach:

Bedding and Linen Cleaning: Bedbugs hide away in the following places: clothes, curtains, linens and bedding. They’ll even invade your kid’s shoes, stuffed animals and other items. Gather up these items and place them in the washer. If the item cannot be washed, place it in the dryer for at least 30 minutes. If the item cannot be washed nor dried, clean it by hand or discard it.

Clean Around the Bed: If you’re the type of person that must jump over a pile of clothes or has clutter around their bed, you need to change these habits. All the clutter must go. Don’t worry about vacuuming just yet (we’ll get there soon – I promise).

Scrub the Mattress: Find or buy a stiff scrub brush. This brush will be used to scrub your mattress seams. The goal is to remove any bedbugs and eggs that may be left behind. This is a good practice leading up to our next point.

Encase Your Mattress: A zippered mattress cover should be used to kill the bedbugs. The idea is to encase the mattress and box spring in a cover. This cover will need to be zippered so that the bed bugs cannot enter or exit the covering. But since bedbugs can live for an entire year without feeding, you’ll need to keep the cover in place for at least a year before removing.

Vacuum Up:Finally, you’ll want to vacuum around your bed. If you have an extension or a handheld vacuum, it’s also suggested that you vacuum the mattress itself. This process should be done often. When finished, place the vacuum bag in a plastic bag and place it in a garbage bin outside of the home. Bed bugs will escape from bags if allowed.

This concludes the cleaning portion, but there is always more to do. Cracks in the molding around your home or peeling wallpaper need to be fixed or repaired. This means plugging up all of these cracks so that these pests don’t go and hide in the walls while you’re on your killing rampage.

And as a bonus, filling these cracks will help your home be more energy efficient, which is always a bonus.

My Mattress is Infested! What Can I Do?

If you find that your mattress is extremely infested, you may be able to kill them with bed bug bombs. In extreme cases, some people recommend discarding your mattress if it’s overrun with bed bugs.

This is an expensive endeavor, but it’s an option to consider, too.

The issue with buying a new mattress is that if the infestation in your home hasn’t been corrected, they’ll simply come back to infest your new mattress. So, if you plan on discarding your mattress and getting a new one, you’ll need to ensure that you have the infestation completely under control.

4 Chemical and Professional Methods to Kill Bed Bugs

If you’ve had enough of the natural methods of getting rid of bed bugs, there are numerous ways to kill them with chemicals, or professional services. Let’s look at a few of the ways that these bugs can be killed:

1. Bed Bug Heater

Remember how we talked about how heat kills bed bugs? Well, there are such things as bed bug heaters. This isn’t to keep the bugs comfortable, but instead, this is to kill the bed bugs. Now, this isn’t an option for everyone because buying one of these heaters is quite expensive – in the thousands of dollars range.

But professionals will use these heaters to kill bed bugs.

Motels and hotels also make extensive use of these heaters to kill pests. After an hour or so of being turned on, the room will be at the proper temperature to kill these pests. The machine(s) will stay running for quite some time, often 4+ hours to ensure that the bedbugs die.

This is a much better option than spraying harmful chemicals where you sleep.

And if you ask a professional, they’ll often offer this option to you. The maximum heat that these units produce is 132F (or somewhere around this limit) in most cases.

2. Bed Bug Traps

There are numerous traps that aim to kill or trap bed bugs. But the main issue is that a lot of these traps don’t work, so you’ll need to make sure that the model you pick is highly rated and works to kill the bed bugs properly.

Different types of traps are available:

CO2 Bed bug Trap: These traps state that they draw in bed bugs and kill them. The bugs are drawn into a trap, and the carbon dioxide is the reason. The issue is that adult bugs will be caught, but eggs will be left to remain. This is a problem with all traps.

Glue Traps: Often associated with roach motels, these traps have food on the outer layer that will lure the bugs in. When the bugs step foot on the trap, they’ll often get stuck. This is best for monitoring as bedbugs can live almost a year without food – so they’ll be stuck, but they’ll be alive.

You’ll also find traps that are filled with poisons that will kill the bedbug eggs.

But, keep in mind that many traps say that they’ll help you “identify” an issue. Traps are only a small method of eradication, and you’ll need to use other methods to stop the infestation.

3. Bedbug Pesticides

If you see flea and bed bug spray, you’ll know that you have chemical options to kill bed bugs. This is a go-to method that many pest control services use because it’s one of the fastest and easiest methods of control.

But there is a major drawback to using pesticides, too.

These chemicals are often harsh, and since they’ll need to be sprayed all over the home, they do pose some form of risk to humans and pets. The risks are dependent on which chemical was sprayed, and the EPA states that there are over 700 products registered to control bed bugs.

The good thing is that these products fall into one of seven categories:

Growth regulators

Biochemical

Desiccants

Neonicotinoid

Pyrethrins

Pyrethroids

Pyrroles

But some of the chemicals aren’t always bad either. Desiccants, for example, can include diatomaceous earth, which is safe to use in or around your home.

So, you need to do your research on the category and type of chemical spray you use before deciding to cover your home in a potentially harmful substance.

4. Bed Bug Bombs or Foggers

If you’ve ever had fleas or bed bugs, you’ve likely seen foggers or bombs that state they can get rid of bed bugs. These are strong pesticides that will cover the entire home, and it’s important that you:

Remove animals from the home

Leave the home as directed

You’ll even want to remove fish as they can be affected by these pesticides, too.

Normally, you’ll place a canister, often called a bomb, in the home in an appropriate location. The product’s directions will tell you where to place the canister, so it’s very important that you follow these directions, as the manufacturer will know what’s best when using their product.

Bed bug stains are enough, and you don’t want to stain your home further, so it’s recommended that you place down newspaper or some covering to protect the floor or table where the bomb will be set off.

What occurs is that you’ll let the bomb off, following the directions, and then you’ll need to vacate the home for a few hours.

The pesticides will make clouds of deadly poison that will kill the bugs in even the deepest crevices of the home.

Again, make sure that you remove all living things from the home at this time.

If a good product is used, you’ll often find that all the adult bugs have been killed. You’ll want to make sure you follow the directions in the first part of this article to lower the risk of a repeat infestation.

You’ll need to monitor the situation for a period of 30 days after you’ve tried any of the methods above. Eggs can hatch during this time and repopulate your home with bed bugs. Of course, there is always a chance that a few adult bed bugs escaped the initial killing and are going to lay eggs, too.

So, you’ll want to monitor the situation and use the appropriate action as you see fit if you do find any of these pests hanging around.

If you’re looking for a natural predator, there is the masked bed bug hunter. These bugs will feed on certain species of bed bugs, and they aren’t considered a pest because they aren’t normally found in large groups.

This may be something to consider in extreme cases, but in most cases, calling a professional exterminator will remedy the problem.

When it comes to bed bugs, females can lay hundreds of eggs during their lifetime, leading to just one female populating your home. The ability of the bed bug to live up to 300 days without feeding is a marvel, so unless you trap them and leave them for nearly a year, they won’t die of starvation.

4 Bed Bug Home Remedies You Must Try

You need to be aware of the high likelihood that you’ll need to call in a professional or use harsh bed bug chemicals in your home to eradicate these pests. We’re going to discuss a few home remedies which you can do on your own before going to more intensive route.

1. Bed Bug Steamer Death

Do you have a carpet steamer? Well, even if you don’t, you can use hot water to kill these pest’s dead. A steam cleaner is the easier method. Simply steam clean everything from your floor to your mattress.

Keep in mind the mattress will take quite some time to thoroughly dry.

Steam is a necessity for one reason: bed bug eggs.

Hot water may kill regular, adult bed bugs, but it doesn’t kill all the eggs in most cases. So, you may think that your killing rampage was a success until one egg hatches and the rest follow.

And this is where steam comes in.

Eggs have protection, so they won’t easily be able to be removed and kill the growing bed bug babies. Steam, on the other hand, will destroy the egg, allowing you to sleep well at night without fear that the baby bed bugs will come out and take revenge on you for killing the rest of the colony.

2. Isopropyl Alcohol

Isopropyl alcohol is the same rubbing alcohol that you’ll find in your medicine cabinet. This alcohol is deadly to pests, and it also doubles as a disinfectant, which is much-needed during an infestation (who knows where these bugs have been).

What I recommend is purchasing 99% Isopropyl Alcohol.

This is a very potent form of rubbing alcohol, and it will kill them in different ways:

The cells of the bed bugs will begin to dissolve.

The bed bugs will begin to dry out and dehydrate.

Bed bug eggs will dry out and kill any forming bed bugs.

Rubbing alcohol will also work as a deterrent – bed bugs hate it.

So, this neat trick will work in four different ways to finally get rid of bed bugs in your home. The first and most important thing to do at this point is to transform all the alcohol into a spray bottle.

Why?

It’s a lot easier to ensure that all the surfaces are covered when you use a spray. Once you’ve done this, you’ll need to spray your:

Bedding

Curtains

Mattress

Anywhere that you’ve seen bed bugs, start spraying. Don’t forget to spray under your mattress, between frames and even the headboard.

If you’re thorough with your spraying, you’ll find that this method often works better than bed bug traps that seem to work initially until the rest of the pests learn that it’s not a good idea to go near the trap.

Tip: If there is still a strong smell on items that have been sprayed, you can spray a bit of essential oils on the surfaces after you have the infestation under control.

3. Tea Tree Oil to the Rescue

A lot of essential oils have been known to repel these pests, but one seems to work better than the rest: tea tree oil. This oil is strong, and while its pungent smell may turn away bugs, it’s not filled with harsh chemicals that you wouldn’t want around your pets or children.

Getting started is the hardest part for many people.

You don’t want to use this oil without diluting it first; this is the key most important thing. You’ll want to use a spray bottle for this method, too. Simply:

Place 20 drops of tea tree oil into a spray bottle

Fill the rest of the bottle with water

But this will only work as a deterrent since it’s diluted, so we suggest using this method in conjunction with one of the other pointers on this list for the best results.

The only thing that’s left to do is spray all infested areas with your mixture.

So, why doesn’t tea tree oil kill bedbugs?

It does, but it can be toxic in very large amounts to animals. And the oil can cause staining – this is the biggest concern. You don’t want to stain your carpets or walls trying to get rid of bedbugs, do you?

Lavender oil is also a strong repellent that smells better than tea tree oil if you can’t stand the smell.

4. Diatomaceous Earth

If you fear any type of pest, one of the absolute best things you can keep in your home is diatomaceous earth. This is a substance that comes from the fossils of algae. It sounds like a science project, but it works so well, you’ll be blown away.

See, small pests will have their skeletons ripped apart by this substance.

These tiny grains have jagged edges that won’t hurt a human or dog because they’re small yet deadly to small bugs. What happens is that the jagged edges will rip through the exoskeleton, allowing it to be exposed and dry out.

And the bugs will die if they dry out.

What I recommend is:

Sprinkling DE around the parameter of the infested room

Sprinkle DE all around the bed

If you have a place or another room that you can sleep in that’s not infested, you can even sprinkle this substance on your mattress and let it sit for a few days while it works its magic on the bed bugs.

When you finally see these dead pests on the floor, make sure to vacuum up all the DE.

In fact, you’ll want to sprinkle a light coating and replace it (after vacuuming) every day or two for best results. This will ensure that you have the maximum potential to kill as many bed bugs as possible.

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